The broad aim of the Genetics Program is to enhance understanding of genetic and epigenetic events that allow a cell to overcome its normal constraints on proliferation and differentiation and transform into a tumor cell. Identifying genes and pathways which contribute to tumorigenesis is expected to improve understanding of the fundamental events giving rise to cancer, lead to the identification of novel targets for therapeutic intervention and provide novel biomarkers for better diagnosis, staging, and risk assessment for individual cancer patients. Toward this end, the Genetics Program has been organized into three areas of research: Cancer Genes and Genomics, Mouse Models of Cancer, and Epigenetics & Genomic Instability, and it combines the campus-wide expertise in human and mouse genetics, genomics, cytogenetics, somatic cell genetics, DNA replication, and genomic instability. The Genetics Program was created in April 2001 and is led by John K. Cowell, PhD, who was recruited to Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in December 2000 on the basis of his international reputation in cancer genetics and its clinical applications. The membership brings together genetics expertise from the departments of Cancer Genetics, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Medicine. Current annual peer-reviewed program funding is $6.8 M, of which $3.2 M is from NCI and an additional $3.6 M is from other peer-reviewed sources. Program members have published 258 peer-reviewed publications since 1999. The integration of clinician scientists into the scientific program allows close interaction to facilitate joint applied research projects such as the study of aberrant gene expression in solid tumors and the use of cDNA and tissue microarrays to identify genetic aberrations of pathogenic or prognostic significance in a number of tumor types. The Program has 28 members, of which 11 have been newly recruited into the Institute since the program's inception. These recruits bring expertise in mouse models of cancer, molecular analysis of human cancer, epigenetics, bioinformatics and molecular pathology, all of which represent strategic additions to the research themes within the program. Additional targeted recruitment in the departments of Cancer Genetics and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine are planned to help further strengthen the program over the next two years.